Spanish Phrases

Why a little Spanish goes a long way

You can get through Madrid, Barcelona or Seville with English alone, especially in hotels, big museums and anywhere that sees lots of tourists. But step into a neighborhood bar, a village bakery, a pharmacy or a market stall and English thins out fast, particularly with people over 50. A few dozen words change the experience: staff relax, you get the dish the regulars are eating, and you can read the sign that says the bus does not run on holidays.

If you learned Spanish in a US school, it was probably Latin American Spanish, and it will serve you well. Spaniards understand it perfectly, and they are used to hearing it. The differences are mostly a lisp-like "th" sound, the plural "you all" (vosotros), and a handful of everyday words: a car is a coche in Spain, a cell phone is a móvil, and a computer is an ordenador.

The phrases below use the Spain version. The "Say it" column is a rough English respelling, with the stressed syllable in capitals. For greetings, gestures and the customs behind them, see etiquette.

Pronunciation in five minutes

Spanish is spelled the way it sounds, so once you know a few rules you can read any menu or station name aloud. The vowels never change: a as in "father", e as in "bet", i as in "machine", o as in "go" (shorter), u as in "rule".

• C before e or i, and Z: a "th" as in "think" in most of Spain: gracias is GRAH-thyahs, Zaragoza is thah-rah-GOH-thah. In much of Andalusia and the Canary Islands, as in Latin America, it is an "s". Either is correct.
• J, and G before e or i: a raspy "h" from the back of the throat: jamón (hah-MOHN), Gijón (hee-HOHN).
• H: always silent. Hola is OH-lah; horchata is or-CHAH-tah.
• LL and Y: both like the "y" in "yes": paella is pah-EH-yah, Sevilla is seh-BEE-yah.
• Ñ: like "ny" in "canyon": España (ehs-PAH-nyah), caña (KAH-nyah).
• R and RR: a single r is a quick tap, like the "dd" in "ladder"; rr and an r at the start of a word are rolled.
• B and V: sound the same, a soft "b". Vino is BEE-noh.
• Stress: words ending in a vowel, n or s stress the second-to-last syllable (tortilla, tor-TEE-yah); others stress the last (Madrid, mah-DREED). An accent mark overrides both: Málaga (MAH-lah-gah), Córdoba (KOR-doh-bah).

Greetings and courtesy

At the bar and the restaurant

Spanish bars run on short, confident orders. Catch the bartender's eye, say what you want, and you will usually pay at the end. For how meals work, see Spanish food and eating in Madrid.

Coffee and drinks

Menu words

Menus in tourist areas usually have English translations, often odd ones. These are the words worth knowing in Spanish. For regional specialties, see food and wine.

Trains, buses and taxis

Most of your Spanish travel days will run on trains. Station screens and announcements are bilingual in big stations, but smaller ones and buses are not. See getting around Spain.

Station and transit signs

• Salidas / Llegadas: departures / arrivals
• Vía or andén: track or platform
• Taquilla: ticket office; máquina de billetes is a ticket machine
• Coche and plaza: train car and seat number on your ticket
• Cercanías: commuter trains (Rodalies in Catalonia)
• Control de acceso: the security and ticket check before long-distance platforms; arrive 20–30 minutes early
• Retraso / suprimido: delayed / canceled
• Transbordo or correspondencia: transfer or connection, on the metro
• Consigna: left-luggage lockers
• Libre: on a taxi's green light, available

Everyday signs

Road signs and the gas station

Driving in Spain is straightforward on the highways and testing in old town centers. Speeds are in km/h: 120 km/h (75 mph) is the usual motorway limit. See driving in Spain.

• Ceda el paso: yield
• Autopista (AP-) and peaje: motorway and toll; many former toll roads became free when concessions ended
• Autovía (A-): a toll-free divided highway
• Salida: exit; desvío, detour; obras, roadworks
• ZBE (zona de bajas emisiones): low-emission zone; rental cars generally have the right sticker, but check
• Zona azul / ORA: paid on-street parking with time limits; zona verde in Madrid is mainly for residents
• Aparcamiento or parking: parking garage
• Gasolinera: gas station; sin plomo 95 is regular unleaded, gasóleo or diésel is diesel
• Lleno, por favor: fill it up (most stations are self-service, and some require paying first)

Shopping and markets

Plastic bags cost a few cents, so carry your own. For VAT refunds, sales seasons and what you can bring home, see shopping and US customs.

Emergencies, health and police

Call 112 for police, fire or ambulance from any phone; operators can answer in English. Our safety and health pages have the details.

To claim on travel insurance after a theft, you need a police report (denuncia). In most of Spain that means the Policía Nacional; in Catalonia it is the Mossos d'Esquadra, and in the Basque Country the Ertzaintza. Pharmacies are marked with a green cross, and pharmacists give useful advice for minor problems.

Numbers, prices, days and time

• Prices: Spain writes a decimal comma: €12,50 is twelve euros fifty, said doce con cincuenta. A period marks thousands: 1.500 is fifteen hundred.
• Days: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo (Monday to Sunday). The week starts on Monday on calendars.
• Dates: day first. 6/1 is January 6, not June 1.
• Time: timetables use the 24-hour clock (21:30 is 9:30 pm). Mediodía is midday, but lunch is at 2; la tarde runs until about 9 pm; la madrugada is the small hours.
• Useful words: hoy (today), mañana (tomorrow, or morning), ayer (yesterday), ahora (now), ahora mismo (right now, though it can mean "soon").

A little Catalan, Basque and Galician

Roughly two in five Spaniards live in regions with a second official language. Everyone there speaks Spanish too, but signs, menus and announcements may come first in the regional language, and a word or two of it earns real goodwill. See etiquette for why it matters.

Catalan (Barcelona, Catalonia, Valencia region, Balearic Islands)

Basque (San Sebastián, Bilbao, the Basque Country and northern Navarra)

Galician (Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Vigo)

Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago will see Galician on every waymark in the final stretch, and bo camiño (have a good Camino) is the greeting you will hear.

Words you will hear everywhere

• Vale: OK, sure, agreed. Spaniards use it dozens of times a day.
• Venga: come on, go on, or "right then, bye". Often doubled: venga, venga.
• Guay: cool, great.
• Tío / tía: literally uncle or aunt, used like "dude" between friends.
• ¿Qué pasa?: what's up?
• Ostras: a mild "wow" or "oh no".
• Hombre: "man", said to men and women alike for emphasis.
• Puente: literally "bridge", a long weekend when a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday and people take the day in between off. Expect crowded trains and roads.

You will also hear plenty of swearing in casual conversation, on TV and from grandmothers. It carries much less weight than in English, but it is still best left to native speakers.

How to practice before you go

• Start four to six weeks out. Ten minutes a day with a free app such as Duolingo, or the free audio lessons many public libraries offer through their apps, gets you through greetings, numbers and ordering.
• Choose Spain Spanish where you can. Some courses let you pick European Spanish; it helps you hear the "th" and vosotros.
• Download an offline translator. Google Translate and similar apps let you download Spanish, Catalan and Galician for offline use, and the camera mode reads menus. Basque support is more limited, so download it ahead if offered.
• Watch Spanish TV. Spanish series on the big streaming platforms, with Spanish subtitles, train your ear to the accent faster than anything else.
• Practice the respellings aloud. Saying agua del grifo and la cuenta a few times before your first night makes them come out naturally in a noisy bar.

Need help planning? Our planning guide and trip planning service can help you build the trip around the places you want to see.